Under Nanfan, who succeeded Bellomont temporarily, Col. Bayard, who had brought Leisler to his doom, was in turn put on trial, and the narrative of the proceedings throws light on the factious political life of the time.[529]
One of the most significant acts of Cornbury’s rule (1702-1708) was the prosecution in 1707 of Francis Mackemie, a Presbyterian minister, for preaching without a license.[530]
J. R. Brodhead, who gives references in the case (_Hist. Mag._, Nov., 1863), charges Cornbury with forging the clause of his instructions under which it was attempted to convict Mackemie, and he says that the copy of the royal instructions in the State Paper Office contains no such paragraph. “History,” he adds, “has already exhibited Lord Cornbury as a mean liar, a vulgar profligate, a frivolous spendthrift, an impudent cheat, a fraudulent bankrupt, and a detestable bigot. He is convicted of having perpetrated one of the most outrageous forgeries ever attempted by a British nobleman.”[531]
The few months of Lovelace’s rule (1708-9) were followed by a funeral _Sermon_ when he died, in May, 1709, preached by William Vesey (New York, 1709), which is of enough historical interest to have been reprinted in the _N. Y. Hist. Coll._ (1880).
During 1720-1722, the Shelburne Papers (_Hist. MSS. Commission Report_, v. 215) reveal letters of Peter Schuyler and Gov. Burnet, with various other documentary sources.
There is a portrait of Rip van Dam, with a memoir, in Valentine’s _Manual_ (1864, p. 713).
In 1732 and 1738 we have important statistical and descriptive papers on the province from Cadwallader Colden.[532]
The narrative of the trial of Zenger was widely scattered, editions being printed at New York, Boston, and London; while the principles which it established were sedulously controverted by the Tory faction.[533]
The main printed source respecting the Negro Plot of 1741 is the very scarce book by the recorder of the city of New York, Daniel Horsmanden, _A Journal of the proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy formed by some white people in conjunction with negro and other slaves for burning the City of New York, and murdering the inhabitants, etc., containing_, I., _a narrative of the trials, executions, etc._; II., _evidence come to light since their execution_; III., _lives of the several persons committed, etc._ (New York, 1744).[534]